Bittersweet
by PBnJ
Summary: It was an oddly chilly summer evening in Surrey, England. Outside of a dimly lit town home a man staggered drunkenly through the front door. Upstairs, a young girl by the name of Lily Evans sat quietly on her bed…waiting.
1. Prologue

Bittersweet  
Prologue  
  
It was an oddly chilly summer evening in Surrey, England (a/n-we dunno where Surrey is so bear with us). Outside of a dimly lit town home a man staggered drunkenly through the front door. Upstairs, a young girl by the name of Lily Evans sat quietly on her bed.waiting.  
  
"LILY! Where are you?" The man growled.  
  
The pretty redheaded girl cowered and shrank under the shelter of her duvet. She shook as she heard the resounding sound of large feet tromping up the stairs. Moments later a door creaked open, only it wasn't her door, but Petunia's.  
  
"I-I'm not Lily." "Stop lying. I told you not to lie..."  
  
WACK! A scream bounded through the house as Petunia yelped in pain. Lily grabbed the nearest pillow and pulled it firmly over her head. Her knuckles turned white as she heard the familiar tromping feet of her father nearing her doorway.  
  
"LILY!" the slurred voice called.  
  
Lily dropped the pillow and resided in her nook underneath her covers. She hoped and prayed her father would be too drunk to see her. She peeked from underneath the covers and watched the doorknob slowly turning. But before the door had a chance to swing open Lily heard a choked voice cry, "NO!"  
  
"Petunia." Lily whispered.  
  
Lily bit her bottom lip, drawing blood in the process. She choked back sobs. She continued to peek from beneath the protection of her duvet. She hadn't heard anything in a few minutes and gained hope that Petunia had talked him out of what ever he was planning. Her hope was shattered by the sound of her sister falling at her father's feet.  
  
"No!" Lily sobbed, "No, no, NO!" Lily jumped out of bed and threw open her door. She was furious. She looked at her father, loathing the mocking grin he wore on his face.  
  
"Damn that stupid bitch," he said, staring at the motionless body of Petunia.  
  
"That. Stupid. Bitch. Is. My. SISTER." Lily said, venom spitting off her tongue.  
  
She simply stared at her father, eyes squinted, but her look of pure hatred didn't falter her father. As she glared at him, he pulled back his arm; fist clenched tightly, and punched Lily's delicate jaw. She, like her sister, fell to the ground. However, unlike her sister she wasn't rescued and had to suffer numerable cowardly kicks in the side. But as her father started off for another kick at his daughter, CRASH BANG BOOM  
"Shit!" was yelled as Lily's father suddenly plummeted down the stairs. Lily carefully pulled her self off the ground. She looked down the hallway to where her father had fallen. Her attention was grabbed by the moaning of her sister to her left. She quickly abandoned watching the stairs and ran to her sister's side. Petunia looked up at her younger sister. The left side of Lily's face was badly bruised and her nose and lip were bleeding horribly. She also noticed the numerous bruises showing through her ripped nightgown.  
  
"Oh Lily!" "No, it's-it's nothing." Lily mumbled. Suddenly noticing the absence of her father Petunia perked up and demanded in a panicked tone, "Where is he?" "He...fell down the stairs." "From here?" "I-I guess so." Lily really had no clue how her father had suddenly ended up on the bottom of the stairs down the hallway, but she was positive it'd happened.  
"Well...let's get you cleaned up Lils." Petunia said, giving Lily a watery smile. She noticed the look of anguish on her sister's face and said, "Don't worry. He doesn't mean it." "I know...."  
  
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Autors Notes-  
  
PBnJ~ Hey. This is PB and J here!!!  
  
PB~Hello everybody! I hope you really really liked the story. We worked so very hard on the whole moooooOOOOOoooood! Is it good enough for yas? Tell us...REVIEW...I BEG YOU!!! PLEASE. ::PB is smacked in the head by J:: OUCH!  
  
J~Hey its J here, do u all knows what that J stands for. JELLY, MAUH HAHA...ok well we spent countless hours on this, I mean we are talking five, six hours on end...ok well no but we put a lot of effort on this. Well I hope that you simply love it and REVIEW plz...we aren't the type to say 'we won't post the next chapter till we have 20 reviews' but we still enjoy them...they make us feel special. ::PB nods in agreement::  
  
PB~ yes.... (And my name stands for....PEANUT BUTTER!!!Hahahahaha!) ::J smacks PB on the head once again:: OW! Will you stop that!  
  
Thanks for reading and we both hope that you enjoy our story! -PBnJ~ 


	2. Rescues and Running Sorry if the format ...

Disclaimer~ we own absolutely nothing here that you recognize, but the things that you don't are ours!
    
    PBnJ~ Thanks to all of our lovely reviewers! We really appreciate you guys!
    
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    **Bittersweet**
    
    ****
    
    **Chapter 1**
    
                On the same bed as four years before, fifteen-year-old Lily Evans sat, again waiting. She heard the familiar footsteps of her father unsteadily ascending the stairs and waited for his angry cry when he opened Petunia's door—and found the room empty…
    
                "AARGH! Where is she?"
    
                …and there it was. Lily immediately remembered the conversation she and her sister had had earlier that day.
    
                ***"Wh-what are you doing?" Lily cautiously asked her sister as she watched her pack a duffel bag.
    
                "Leaving, freak!"
    
                "But how can you leave me with him…that _monster_!"
    
                "Easy. I go, like you do when you leave me with him while you're off at that sorry excuse of a school you go to. Plus, _monsters_ and _freaks_ go well together!"
    
                "But you can't leave me!"
    
                "Watch me." And with that, she walked out the door, without a second glance.
    
                "No!" Lily cried, tears burning her rosy cheeks as they plummeted mirthlessly down her face.***
    
                She was violently ripped out of her stupor when she heard the door bang open; her father's shadowy figure lurked in the doorway. She grabbed her wand from underneath her tear-soiled pillow and tried to bolt past the huge man before his delayed brain knew what she was doing.
    
                As she skimmed past his broad shoulder, he grabbed her collar with his claw-like hands, strangling her in the process. As she tried to rip away from his threatening grasp, his nails dug into her delicate skin and ripped her shirt down to her lower back, leaving crimson trails as her flesh was torn apart.
    
                She screamed in agony, her face reddened with anger. Lily squirmed out of her father's grasp and bolted down the stairs to her living room, wand still clutched in hand. She waited patiently for her father to stumble through the living room door and when he did she screamed, "BLASSISIMO!" (a/n~ this is my made up incantation for the blasting curse…). Her father flew across the room and hit the wall with such force he was knocked unconscious.
    
                Lily realized what she'd just done and muttered, "Oh, shit." Ministry officials were pouring out of the fireplace and apparating into her living room within an instant.
    
                "Miss Evans, sorry to intrude, but we just need to know who released that powerful blasting curse a few moments ago.
    
                'Oh, shit, I'll be expelled from Hogwarts for this."
    
                "Err…me…"
    
                "Oh, thank goodness! We normally wouldn't have come, but there's just been this psychopath on the loose. Thinks he's somethin' special, that Voldemort. Hmph! We'll get 'em soon. Oh, sorry, you probably don't care. Well, just don't do that again young lady, you're underage. But, might I add, that was one hell of a banishing curse for someone your age."
    
                Lily let out a nervous giggle and muttered, "Thanks."
    
                A tall messy-haired man with piercing blue eyes, similar to James', smiled and said, "Whelp boys! We must be off! Oh, and by the way Miss, my name's Harold Potter, Minister of Magic," Lily gulped as the man stepped into the fire and cheerily added, "My son, James, says hi." before he vanished into a sea of green flames.            
    
                Lily let out a sigh of relief as the last of the ministry officials left her home. She quickly rushed to the mirror above the mantelpiece to survey the long gashes her father had given her. As she was inspecting her wounds, back towards the mirror, a young boy with messy hair and blue eyes' head popped out of the fireplace, unnoticed by Lily.
    
                "Hiya Lily flower! I'd never guess you'd be the type to break the la-ooord! Lily, what the hell happened to your back?"
    
                "What are you doing here James!" Lily exclaimed, whipping around to hide her wounds.
    
                "I asked you my question first Lils! Don't try and hide those…_gashes_ on your back!"
    
                "Oh….well, nothing happened. Just a few scratches." Lily understated, quickly glancing towards her still-unconscious father.
    
                "A few scratches my ass! What really happened?"
    
                "I told you James. Nothing!"
    
                "Right…" James started, unsure, "well, at least let me help you clean those up." he pleaded, stepping out of Lily's fireplace into her living room.
    
                "No James." Lily again glanced towards her immobile father.
    
                "I insist."
    
                "James…"Lily trailed off, knowing it was of no use, "Fine."
    
                "Good, I was gonna help anyways."
    
                "I know." Lily sighed.
    
                "So, where do you keep your towels?"
    
                "Let me get them," Lily hurriedly rushed into the kitchen and grabbed some dish rags and a bowl of warm water. "Here," she shoved the bowl and cloth into James' hands and stood in front of him, arms crossed.
    
                "Ok, now. This may hurt a bit."
    
                'I know,' Lily thought, 'Petty used to help me out when she still lived here…but as I got older she wasn't very gentle. In fact, I used to dread her offers of help.' Lily winced as she felt the rough cloth made for scraping off dried food flakes scratch against her tender flesh.
    
                "Sorry," James hastily apologized.
    
                "No. It's okay,"     'I'm used to it.'
    
                "Gee Lils, these are really deep. How did you get them?"
    
                "Err…" But Lily hadn't a chance to invent a lame excuse as her father had regained consciousness to find his daughter's bare skin being 'rubbed' by another boy.
    
                "Lily, you're such a slut!" her father growled, preparing to make a charge for his daughter.
    
                "Daddy, no!" But it was too late; her father had begun pacing towards her. His arm pulled back, preparing to strike, but before Lily was hit once again, James stepped in front of her and took the blow, falling to the ground at the force of the adrenaline-powered punch.
    
                "James!"
    
                "Lily, go!" James yelled, ignoring the searing pain in his jaw. He tossed her a pouch filled with grayish floo powder. "To Godric's Hollow. You know how! Go on, Lily. GO!" Lily hesitated, thinking she should help, "I said GO! NOW!"
    
                Lily saw her Dad fast approaching and threw half of the floo powder into the hearth, leaving some for James' return. She then stepped into the fire, took one last apprehensive glance towards James, shouted, "Godric's Hollow!" and was out of site, leaving James with her enraged father who thought his daughter had just burned to a pile of ashes due to the boy who had been 'feeling her up'.
    
    ~*~*~*~*~*~
    
                Lily was flying through a swirl of distorted fireplaces, but she didn't even notice the nauseating twists and turns her stomach was taking. She was too busy worrying about a certain someone who was currently fighting…for her. She didn't dwell on this idea for too long due to the fact that she had stopped spinning and plummeted forward out of a fireplace into an extravagantly decorated lounge. She stood up and slowly observed the room, wall by wall, painting by painting until she was jolted out of her daze.
    
                "Ah, Miss Evans. May I ask what you would be doing here?" Said a voice from the corner of the room.
    
                "Er…ARGH!" _BUMPH_! James had just tumbled out of the hearth, squashing Lily as he fell on top of her.
    
                Mr. Potter chuckled, "James that's no way to treat a lady."
    
                James looked up, revealing a black eye, a bleeding nose, and a slash across his cheek. He wore a grimace similar to Lily's as their unexposed bruises collided causing them both great pain.
    
                "James! What happened?" Harold worriedly inquired.
    
                James pulled himself off the floor and held out a hand to Lily who willingly took it. As she stood up, her raw back was exposed.
    
                "James, what'd you _do_ to her?" Harold asked, the tone of his voice hinted anger.
    
                "I saved her, from that bloody excuse of a dad she has. See those wounds on her back! Those were given to her by that bastard."
    
                Lily cut in, "He was about to attack me when James stepped in. He took him on, instead of me. Honestly." 
    
                She then noticed James' state. "Oh my gosh! James! What'd he do to you? Oh, I'm so so sorry. I should've just taken the beating. It wouldn't be the first time it's happened."
    
                "Wait a minute. How long has this been going on, Lily?" Harold asked.
    
                Lily hesitated a moment, "Since my tenth birthday when my mom died. He started drinking and blaming her death on me and my sister. I-I really don't want to talk about it…"
    
                "Oh, I'm so very sorry to have to hear this. You should have said something earlier. We could have prevented it from getting this far."
    
                "But he made me promise I wouldn't tell. Gave me a good beating every year before I left for Hogwarts…" Her bottom lip started to tremble and tears began to form in her downcast emerald eyes. She darted out of the room, afraid of abandoning her strong exterior. She ran and continued running until the realization hit her. She had no clue where she was or where she was going.
    
    However, she continued to venture the halls of the Potter Manor. Her eyes darted from picture to picture, soaking in the reality of her situation.
    
                Back in the lounge, James turned to his father, a questioning look on his face. "Well, don't just stand there James. Go after her!"
    
                "Oh, right." James, still in shock at the discovery of his friend's brutal life, ran blindly out of the room.
    
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    PB~ Whelp folks, that's all for now! Hope the suspense was enough for yous guys…not as much as the first chapter, but there's only so much you can do. Now, where's that apple juice? J?
    
    J~ PB, get a life man…ok well I hope that you enjoyed and that you can't wait to read the next chapter…I would personally like to thank everyone who so kindly reviewed…and Jenny who we made give us her opinion on every idea….also we may not be as fast at getting out the next chapter because this is the last week of school!

PBnJ~ Oh, and just so you know…we people in Switzerland don't get OoTP until…a long time because we had to order if off of Amazon.com and it won't arrive to us until JULY (the ninth for PB) !!! So, if there's stuff in here that totally contradicts the new book…sorry!


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